Jane & Jeff Doyle     May 2006

Jane:

Hello. We’re Jane and Jeff Doyle. We’ve been married for 26 years, and have lived in Ithaca since 1984, when we moved here from St. Louis, Missouri. We’ve been members of St. Catherine’s since then—in fact, our first official act upon arriving in Ithaca was to sign up as parishioners here, which we did while we were living out of a tent in the campground of Treman State Park. Our move here was the third in our young marriage, and we were ready to settle down and sink deep roots. Becoming members of a worshiping community was our first step toward sinking those roots. We had not become involved in the parish life of St. James the Greater in St. Louis, and so we really wanted to become part of things here at St. Catherine’s. Over the 22 years we’ve been here, we’ve joined the choir, worked on the R&R retreats, become part of small faith communities, and participated in many other activities and committees. We’ve seen pastors come and go. We’re still here—the roots are now very deep.

We’ve always believed in giving some of our wealth to charity and to support our parish. Some years ago, we decided to tithe, and to split our contributions roughly equally between St. Catherine’s and other causes, such as our alma maters, the Food Bank of the Southern Tier, and the Christian Foundation for Children and Aging.

Jeff:

There are two main reasons why we give: gratitude and community.

Brother David Steindl-Rast, who as many of you know is a member of our parish community, wrote in his book Gratefulness, the Heart of Prayer, “The Ibo of Nigeria have a proverb that says, ‘It is the heart that gives; the fingers just let go.’ Giving is something only the heart can do.”

We give because we’ve been showered with blessings, and our hearts are filled with joy and gratitude. And we ask ourselves why we are not hungry, or cold, or fearful, when so many people are. It isn't just the faces on the news, night after night, from Baghdad, or the Darfur, but right here—the young custodian at work, raising her two small children and hoping to move out of their trailer someday to a house. We know we’ve worked hard to be where we are financially. But she works as hard as we do. So we are grateful and we ask ourselves, what are the responsibilities that come with having wealth that is far beyond the reach of most people, even in this First World country of ours?

Many scripture passages came to mind as we thought about what to say today. Of course the very first one was "Father, take this cup" from us, when Fr. Mike first asked us to do this.

But seriously, as the letter of James says: “Faith without works is utterly lifeless." In the story where Jesus, at the Last Judgment, divides the good from the bad on the basis of who fed and clothed him in this life, both groups asked “When did we see you, Lord, and clothe (or not clothe), feed (or not feed) you?” Well, we don't do much in the way of directly clothing or feeding the poor, but we feel that can at least write the occasional check.

In another scriptural passage, Jesus tells the disciples that they shouldn’t feel self-righteous when they’re only doing what they’re supposed to do. We know that we're definitely not the widow in that other gospel story, whose penny contribution was so generous because it was more than she could afford. We don't feel we're doing anything very special, but we don't give out of guilt, either. The bottom line for us is that we truly want to be friends of Jesus, to be part of his life, and giving is a small thing we can do to connect us with him. That brings us joy. And then, beyond that, there is the other reason we give—community.

Jane:

And by community we don’t mean just a collection of houses in a common area. We mean the place where we “live, move, and have our being” (to borrow from yet another scripture passage). It is where our hearts are, and where our roots are. Neither of us have “blood family” anywhere close to here. But through our involvement in this parish we have found family. Most of our closest friends are parishioners, and with these friends we have celebrated all of the milestones of family life—births and birthdays, weddings and anniversaries, the sacraments, and deaths. We see investing in St. Catherine’s as investing in our family. A family needs a home, and the home needs electricity, water, heat, and help with the chores. So we tithe, volunteer our time, and share our talents. We’ve turned down opportunities to explore positions at other universities in large part because our roots are sunk so deeply here, entwined with every aspect of this parish community, that we just aren’t interested in leaving—even though some of the possible moves would have brought us geographically much closer to our blood families. St. Catherine’s is just such an important part of us. And because we're committed to staying here, ensuring that St. Catherine’s remains a vibrant, life-giving family is a priority for us. We don’t see giving as a chore, or as an onerous obligation, any more than coming to Mass is an obligation. This is home, in so many ways. Our hearts are filled with joy, and so, as the Ibo say, our fingers are willing to let go a bit of what we have.

We give a lot of our money, because we can afford it. We don’t have children, and we’re blessed with good health. And of the big three of talent, time, and treasure, we have more treasure than either talent (well, I’ll speak for myself) or certainly time.

There are three words that describe why we tithe: gratitude, commitment, and community.

The first two are closely related. We have so much, and we are grateful. We have so much that we are … well, almost embarrassed. The news is full of poverty, of tragedy, of need. And we don’t have to look to distant places to see how well off we are—every day we chat with the young custodian at work, about the two small children she and her husband, an intermittently employed construction worker, are raising, about their hope to move from their trailer to a house, about how she can’t afford the dental work that she needs. She works as hard as we do. So why are showered with wealth?

We give a lot of our money, because we can afford it. We don’t have children; we’re blessed with good health. Many scripture passages come to mind. The one where Jesus commends the poor widow putting a penny in the collection, and contrasts her with the rich guy--we’re the rich guy, not the widow. Or the passage where Christ tells the disciples that if they do good deeds they’re just doing what they’re supposed to do—“You should say, we’re nothing more than useless servants.” That’s us. Or the one where Jesus, at the Last Judgment, divides the good from the bad on the basis of who fed and clothed him in this life. You remember that both groups asked “When did we see you, Lord, and clothe (or not clothe), feed (or not feed) you?” Every time I hear that scripture, I keep hoping somehow that it will include something about writing a check. Then we might rest a bit easier about fulfilling our Christian obligations.

So, we give because we’re grateful, and we give because we see giving from our bounty not as an option, but as something we’re called to do a commitment to share. The third key word for us is "community".

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